Non Standard

Unless your employer is paying for the radio, I'd put in what I wanted. The Galaxy is a decent radio, just keep it simple.

 

KISS.

Do what your wallet dictates.

 

Here's a thought..ask him what he means by a non-standard radio. Or ask one of the other drivers what they have.

 

Well first off, you need to find out what is going to be in the other trucks first. Lots of radio equipment available. Sure you can get a side band radio but it won't do any good if they are running something that is not a side band CB.

So I quess the first question is what are they running.

Also, if the employeer requires something special then I would think the employer should be supplying it.

I know that my boss will pay for a regular off the shelf truck stop CB but that is it since he doesn't require us to have radios at all.

 

I agree, ask your employer what he means by a "non standard" radio. Ask him to list makes and models if possible.

The only thing I can think of is an export radio, which is something like a General Lee, or a Stryker or a Connex. They're not FCC certified and they can allow access to the 10 meter amateur radio which requires an amateur radio license to operate on.

A Galaxy 959 is an FCC certified radio and it is designed to only operate on the citizens band. The 959 does have single side band which is nice if the other truck drivers are running single side band radios. You can go to the side bands and talk farther than you can on regular AM, which is what all CB's run off of. Anyone who does not have a single side band radio cannot make out what you are saying when you are on sideband. You'll sound garbled, sort of like Donald Duck to anyone without a sideband radio when you transmitting on sideband, no kidding. But you can still flip back to AM only mode for those who don't have a sideband radio.

HTH

 

Galaxy had to castrate the radio to gain FCC certification, but the good news is that when opened up properly, the 959 is a great radio.

i picked up a new one last week as a spare for 75 bucks and it still had the protective covering on the case. there is a channel kit out there called the "viagra" board, and it gives the radio one band of upper and lower channels. the newest board uses the NB/ANL switch on the radio so there is no way anyone would know about the channels unless you told them or they saw the freq counter displaying the channel.

that channel board can be found on fleabay for 49 bucks.

 

Sorry, I have never heard the expression "non-standard cb radio". Like the previous posters, I have no idea what he means.
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In my opinion, the antenna is the single most important component of a cb radio setup. Nothing else even comes close. The antennas with a loading coil work very well but cost more ie. Wilson2000/5000, K40 and Predator 10K among others.
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Of the inexpensive non-loading coil antennas, a 4 foot antenna is the minimum length for a tractor trailer. Those 2 and 3 foot antennas just do not usually perform all that well. Personally, I prefer longer antennas ie. 4 1/2 foot Francis model CB25, 5 1/2 foot Francis model CB26, 5 foot Firestick KW5 [this is a cut to tune antenna] or 5 foot Firestick FS5 which has an adjustable tuning knob. Oops, I almost forgot the Wilson Silverload antenna in a 4 foot length and maybe 5 foot length.
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Most people spend alot of time choosing a cb radio and little time on antenna selection. The antenna makes the cb radio setup perform not the radio.
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That is just my opinion but I am sticking to it.

 

This is not an antenna discussion. It is a discussion about radios. It sounds like the company wants him to get a radio that will operate on a specific channel or frequency with no traffic on it.

He needs to know what type of radios the company is running in the other trucks so that he can get the proper radio to comunicate with the other trucks.

The thing is that anything non CB will mostly require some type of liscense to operate legally. Operating on anything other then the set CB channels or CB sideband, will get some Ham operators in an up roar.

He really needs to chat with the company before he goes radio shopping.

One thing is for certain, the company can not legal insist on one of the ten meter export type radios due to them not being legal in the first place.